The troopers are among 78 who completed the 19-week long training are being assigned to posts throughout the state.

“Field training officers have been assigned to each one of these young troopers,” said 1st Lt. John Card, the post’s commander. “They will go through a training phase.”

The duration of that training varies, depending on the new troopers’ ability and how quickly they learn their duties, Card said.

“Those numbers are definitely going to bolster the ranks and allow us to do some patrols and investigations that we haven’t been able to do in the past,” Card said. “It’s always great to get young, aggressive troopers out of those recent academies. They have the latest technology and experience that our academy has found from all over the world and they have given that to each one of these young troopers. When they get to their work site, that information is passed on to everyone who is currently working there. It always makes the seasoned veterans check their style of work and makes sure they’re sharp. It’s a great time to have fresh blood infused into our ranks.”

The Tri-City Post opened earlier this month and with the additional recruits, it will have a staff of 54 troopers, five motor carrier officers, eight road sergeants, four detectives, an assistant commander and a post commander.

The 12,000-square-foot Tri-City Post replaced the closed Bridgeport and Bay City posts. Troopers assigned to that location serve Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties and are also stationed at detachments throughout the three counties.

The state police is to hire 180 new troopers in 2012. The 124th Trooper Recruit School is to begin Sunday, Oct. 28, with another to start in 2013. Those interested in applying should visit www.michigan.gov/mspjobs for more information.

“Our training academy does just a fantastic job,” Card said. He added that recently, the academy had recruits go through a form of mock training that involved them seeing the law and order process from beginning to end.

“They went out on mock traffic stops, took complaints, made arrests, lodged individuals, went through the booking process and into the subpoena process where they were actually subpoenaed for court,” Card said. “The training academy worked with the (Thomas M.) Cooley Law School where prosecutors and attorneys actually put them through a mock trial with their arrest. They saw the process from start to finish.”